It is known to connect together mating inner and outer components using a tolerance ring. One example of the use of a tolerance ring is in a hard disk drive (HDD) pivot mount, where the tolerance ring is sandwiched between, and provides axial retention between, a bearing housing and a bore in the head actuator arm. The use of a tolerance ring enables the manufacturing tolerances for the mating components to be relaxed, reduces assembly time, enables easy disassembly for re-work, and can improve resonance performance.
It is important that the fit between the mating components is sufficient to ensure that there is no axial, i.e. linear, slip between them during operation. It is therefore desirable to monitor manufactured tolerance rings to ensure that the force (known as initial slip force) at which linear slip occurs between the mating components between which it is to be assembled is within acceptable parameters.